I'm proud to present my latest image of Messier 81 & 82 in HaRGB. A year ago today I started this hobby & posted my
very first image of the same galaxies, and I was (and continue to be) very proud of this image. I was amazed that I could even see structure within the spiral arms of M81 & some detail in the core of M82 with my very own equipment.
As I continued to learn more about astrophotography & processing these images, I longed to be able to see even more of the true structure of what I photograph. 6 months ago, I returned to M81 & M82, I was able to
resolve even more detail from the galaxies -- seeing their extended structure for their first time, and starting to resolve the numerous faint background galaxies that fill the void between them.
Recently, I returned to them again with all the skills I've learned in the past year. The weather finally cooperated & I was fortunate enough to get >24 hours of total exposure time on them, but due to bad flat frames & other issues, I decided to only include the best ~18 hours into this image. I hope that I can keep returning to these galaxies, year after year, applying everything I've learnt up to then, to photograph an even better version of them.
Any & all feedback is always appreciated, and I hope you enjoy the final image!
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